


It's Fun And Games Until We Both Get Hurt

by CaptainLeBubbles



Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [13]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Arguing, Fanservice, M/M, Possessive Behavior, Suggestive Themes, content warning in the author's note, kali is thirsty for all of her friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23335249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: Every relationship has its ups and downs. When James and Qrow are up, they're up. When they're down, they're very,verydown.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/James Ironwood
Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200967
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings, because I'm not sure tags can cover this, and I want to be clear going forward: This short has some elements that are potentially adjacent to themes of both dubious consent and domestic violence. _Neither of these things is actually happening at any point_. But, if you're already sensitive to these sorts of things, I'd rather you go in informed than have it come out of nowhere if it hits too close to home for _you_.
> 
> The end note has a better explanation of each, if you're unsure about whether to proceed.
> 
> I also, because I love you guys, decided to post both parts at once, so if there's only one part when you look at this, give it a few minutes and refresh the page.

-/-

Kali Belladonna was a woman of many vices and virtues, and among these were both a desire to have the sort of fun where there’s no need to think of the children, and an understanding that her other parent friends could probably use the same once in awhile. Thus it was that after school let out for the summer, she decided to have an adults-only pool party at her place, where her many parent friends could enjoy just a few hours being adults around adults.

Of course, a pool party meant all of her gorgeous and beautiful friends were in swimwear, but a woman can be forgiven for wanting just a little bit of fanservice in her life.

(Not that any of them came close to comparing to her incredibly handsome Ghira but, well. Glynda was managing a close race in that tastefully modest purple number of hers, the matching shawl tied around her waist somehow making her more alluring than if she were in something more revealing.)

“You’re staring at Glynda again,” Qrow said as she went by, making the rounds to check on her guests. She halted at his words, and he patted the seat next to him- and Qrow wasn’t looking too bad either, in an open white button down and a black speedo. He snorted and shook his head, and fished her a root beer out of the cooler beside him. “You’re way too thirsty, girl.”

“Can you blame me? Our friends are all really gorgeous.”

“True,” he agreed, and then his whole body perked up. “Speaking of gorgeous-”

Kali didn’t have to turn around to know who he was looking at, but she did anyway, and was unsurprised to see James returning from inside the house.

Ah, James. Now there was a disappointment- he always insisted on wearing a black t-shirt with his swim trunks, and she never got her fanservice with him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t like they didn’t _know_ about his metal bits, and it was obvious from the way his shirt clung to him when he was wet that he had a bod under it, but he just never wanted to show it off.

When she turned back, Qrow seemed to have caught James’ eye, because he was sipping his root beer with a rather… suggestive overtone to his movements and his eyes locked on a point beyond her.

She sighed. “I don’t suppose you can get his shirt off, can you?”

Qrow spared one last wink for his beau before setting his drink down and turning back to her with a shake of his head. “He doesn’t like people seeing him down to the metal, I wouldn’t do that to him. Besides, gotta have a few private joys of my own, right?”

“If you don’t stop eyefucking your man across my pool it’s not going to be private for very much longer.”

He snorted. “Cute. Nah, we’re having a little sleepover tonight, and since Penny’s staying over at Ciel’s I want him all riled up by the time I get him home.”

She nodded knowingly. “Never waste an opportunity not to need to keep things quiet,” she agreed.

“That’s the idea,” he said, catching James’ eye again while he played with the neck of his bottle, just as the man himself arrived. “Hey big man. Wanna root beer?”

“I was actually going to swim, so I don’t think I’ll open a new drink just now. I’ll just get a sip of yours.”

Qrow smirked, and, eyes still locked, passed his drink slowly over to James, who tilted his head back to take a deep pull from the bottle.

It was at this point that Kali, deeply amused, decided it was time to move on, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles.

-/-

“You’re disappointing Kali,” Qrow said, when Roman slid into the seat next to him.

Roman glanced down at the t-shirt he’d thrown over his trunks, and shrugged. “She knows why. Anyway, I don’t exactly care about being ogled by women.”

“Men though? I’d have expected you’d have glued yourself to Ghira’s new boyfriend, he’s like if someone took your type and used it as a checklist.”

“Sunil? Nah, he’s not my type.”

“Since _when?”_

Roman glowered, then shrugged and turned to fishing a drink out of the cooler. Qrow watched him thoughtfully for a minute, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You gotta stop torturing yourself like this.”

“I’m _fine.”_

“You’re _not._ You’re hurting.”

“Not as much as the alternative. It’s _fine,_ little bird, I’m just. I just have to ride the wave. This will pass, and when it does I’ll have something so much more valuable than anything as silly and fleeting as romance.”

“Friendship?”

“A hot man who lives for casual touch and never has to know anything as awkward as _feelings_ were ever a factor. Have you even met me?”

“Torch…”

“Don’t. Don’t you _dare_ pity me.”

“I’m not, I just. Don’t like to see you break your own heart like this.”

“Then look away,” he snapped, and turned away with a huff. His eyes landed on James instead, just climbing out of the pool.

As the two men looked on, he pulled his shirttail away from his middle to wring it out, revealing a stretch of skin and metal above his waistband, only about an inch or so, but _oh,_ what an inch. Roman glanced over at Qrow, unsurprised to see the clear hunger in his gaze where it was glued to James’ hips. He smirked, and waited till James spotted him beside Qrow to stand and move closer, leaning over him and draping an arm around his shoulder, practically nuzzling his ear with how close he was leaning.

“Uh, hi?”

“Remember what you told me earlier, about your plans for James tonight?”

“Yeah?”

“Why wait until tonight? Come dance with me, and I bet he can be persuaded to drag you into the nearest closet and have his way with you right here at the party.” He leaned closer, if that was even possible, his lips ghosting against the shell of Qrow’s ear. “Something to take the edge off?”

Qrow was watching Roman in his periphery, but Roman had his eyes locked with James, whose smoulder had shifted into a glower as soon as Roman moved. He smirked and winked, and added the finishing blow. “How often does he indulge that exhibitionist streak of yours?”

-/-

Kali was the luckiest woman in the world. She had her man on one side of her, and Ghira knew better than to wear a shirt to one of her pool parties— his trunks were minuscule and clung to his legs, wonderful— while Tai lounged decadently on the chaise beside her.

Tai, now. Tai was never a waste. He worked hard to maintain that gorgeous bod of his, and didn’t miss the chance to show it off in appropriate settings. Sunlight glistened on the droplets of water clinging to his skin, gleaming on the golden dragon curling into the shape of a sun on his side and chest, glittering with every shift and bunch of those beautiful muscles of his.

“Stop objectifying me,” Tai said, when Kali spent a good minute or two watching him. She was about to make a quip in return when Tai suddenly sat up, slipping off his aviators to stare across the pool with a frown. “Uh oh.”

“What uh oh?” Kali asked, sitting up as well. 

She looked across the pool and spotted Qrow and Roman, hands clasped as they— well, dancing was a word for it. ‘Miming sex’ was a much more accurate word for it, but that wasn’t what Tai was looking at. She followed his gaze until she spotted James, standing beside the cooler with a soda can crumpled in one hand, soda dripping unnoticed down his fingers. He was watching Qrow and Roman’s performance with an intensity that had gone beyond just the pent-up sexual energy from before.

“Uh oh,” she echoed, as James turned and stormed away. She could see his hands shaking from across the pool; she hoped he was going somewhere quiet to calm down.

-/-

“Those were your bad idea jeans, brother,” Tai said, watching Qrow head by over the top of his aviators. Qrow stopped in front of him and planted his hands on his hips.

“Seen Jimmy anywhere?”

“He went inside. You should probably give him some space, he seemed a little… intense.”

“That’s the idea,” Qrow said, strolling on by with a giddy air around him. It’d been ages since he and Roman danced together— since he’d stopped drinking, at very least— and he’d seen James watching him close; with any luck he was going to get the ravishing of his life out of that, assuming he could actually figure out where James had squirrelled himself away.

He didn’t have to look far. He found James in the kitchen bathroom, leaned over the sink splashing water on his face. He came over and leaned on the door to watch him, hips cocked _just so_ , and grinned. “Whatcha hiding back here for, big man?”

And then grinned as James, after an excruciatingly long pause, surged forward and grabbed Qrow by his shirt, slamming him against the bathroom door and attacking his mouth in a deep, needy kiss. Qrow snaked one hand around James’ neck to pull him closer and slipped the other down to lock the door.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he said when they parted, and then dragged his man back down for more of those bruising kisses.

-/-

When James and Qrow rejoined the party, Qrow was sporting several more hickies than he had been previously; with a wink at James, he slipped out of his overshirt and went to dive into the pool, while James moved over to the cooler, where Tai was sitting with Torchwick. Torchwick’s face split into a wide grin when James joined them.

“Well now,” he said. “No need to ask where you two’ve been.”

James ignored him, grabbing a bottle of water out of the cooler and turning his attention to Qrow instead, who had gotten roped into a game of chicken with Kali, Glynda, and Snow. Behind him, Torchwick frowned, eyes narrowed, and then grinned slyly. He stood and moved closer, speaking low so only James could hear him.

“It’s amazing how strong that possessive streak of yours is,” he said. “You can’t even handle your man dancing with his friend without needing to remind him who he belongs to? Mark him up so everyone else knows, too?”

James finally turned to glower at him, and he grinned. Leaned closer into his personal space.

“I can read you like a book, _Jimmy._ A really easy picture book for toddlers.” He turned to saunter away, then paused and shrugged theatrically. “But hey, at least Qrow thinks it’s hot. So that’s all right then.”

James’ hands were shaking again as he walked away. Behind them both, Tai leaned forward to bury his face in his hands with a long-suffering sigh.

“Goddammit, Torch…”

-/-


	2. Part Two

-/-

It was, in hindsight, a very good thing that Penny was sleeping over at a friend’s house. The fortune of a night alone had turned into keeping Penny from overhearing their argument: by the time they reached the house a little later, James was boiling, and it didn’t take long for their argument to descend into shouting.

We will not dwell on the words thrown; the points themselves were such:

James, incensed by Torchwick’s parting remark, felt very strongly that Qrow had manipulated him into sex. That he had used James’ well-known dislike

(“Dislike,” Qrow sneered. “You’ve hated him from day one and you know it.”

“He hasn’t exactly done anything to make himself likeable.”)

of Torchwick to get James riled up, crossing what should have been an obvious line in search of his own release.

Qrow, in contrast, felt that James had taken Qrow’s past sexual liaisons with Torchwick as some kind of evidence that he was still attracted to him and had crossed the line from “playfully possessive” to “genuinely possessive”

(“My sex life before we met is none of your goddamn business!”

“It is when you _make it_ my business!”)

and their rather aggressive quickie was born from spite rather than intense arousal.

Both thought the other was being rather stupid-

(“What the hell do you mean manipulated you? It was a game with a pretty clear end goal of sex!”

“You changed the game when you involved  _ him.” _

“Roman Torchwick! He has a fucking name!”

“Well maybe if he used someone else’s once in awhile I’d use his!”)

-and both refused to back down on his points. Both were angry, and the longer they argued, the angrier they got. Which brings us to:

“Me and Torch stopped hooking up years before I even  _ met _ you-”

“That is not the  _ point-!” _

Both men froze as a groan of metal on metal echoed in the room. Their eyes drew downward to James’ fist, buried in a dent in James’ desk. The room went quiet then, no sound beyond the echoed beating of two suddenly pounding hearts and slow, desperately controlled breathing.

It was Qrow who spoke first. He took a deep breath and let his hands fall to his side.

“I think… that we could do with some space to calm down before we speak again. So I will be sleeping at home tonight, and we will talk about this later.”

James said nothing, still staring wide-eyed at his hand in horror. Qrow moved closer, slowly, carefully, and took his hand, closing both of his own around it.

“Hey. Look at me.” When James did, finally, Qrow gave him a weak smile. “This is just space, okay? We need some space to calm down. Okay?”

James nodded- stilted, unsure. Qrow moved again, holding James’ hand over his heart with one hand while the other reached up to cup the side of his face.

“James. Hey. Listen to me. If I  _ ever _ thought you’d raise this hand to  _ me _ we’d be having a very different conversation right now. I’m not walking away, I’m not walking out. It’s just space.” He pushed up onto tiptoes, steered James down enough to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Tell me you love me.”

“I love you. Qrow, I--”

“Shhh.” Another brief kiss, and Qrow parted them. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I’ll see you in a few days. Get some rest. We’ll calm down and talk in a couple days.”

And then he was gone.

For a long time, James stood where Qrow had left him, mind a jumbled, tangled, roiling mess, jumping wildly from anger to terror to despair.

_ He provoked you, _ a part of his brain tried to say, silenced immediately, while another hissed,  _ Just like your father, aren’t you? _ and another whispered  _ You’re supposed to be past this. _

The casing on his hand had cracked. Sparks jumped when he tried to move his fingers; he stared numbly down at it, detaching it without much fanfare. There was a spare stored away, it would be easy to replace it. He’d have to fix this one, but his other hand was shaking too much, and something rational in him seized control the moment he had this thought, silencing the overwhelming storm of voices in his mind.

This could be… fixed. In time. With work.

James took a few long, deep breaths, and set the cracked, damaged hand on his desk before moving over to the cabinet where he kept his spares and his tools.

His mind, he knew, would not let him sleep anytime soon. But at least he could get to work on repairing the damage he’d done.

-/-

Tai was waiting up for Qrow when he came into the kitchen the next morning, a pot of coffee on the table and the kitchen only barely lit by the faint grey light of dawn. Elsewhere in the house their children slept: this early in the summer, they would no doubt sleep till noon, if for no other reason than because they now  _ could. _

“Thought you were staying with James last night,” Tai said, a knowing accusation lacing his tone. Qrow pulled his own chair out and poured himself coffee, staring blearily at his brother.

“We got into a fight,” he grunted, after a few seconds. “Figured we’d better take some space before talking about things.”

“Sounds like a smart idea. Space.”

Qrow huffed, and scrubbed his hand over his face and yawned. “You got something to say then say it.”

“I know you tend to call yourself brainless as a joke, but what you did yesterday was the first time I’ve thought you really are.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Qrow, you were miming sex with the guy your boyfriend hates that you used to have casual hookups with. What the hell were you even thinking?”

“You too?” He jabbed a finger in Tai’s direction. “Look, I told Jimmy and I’ll tell you. My sex life  _ before we even met _ is none of his business.”

“It is when you  _ rub it in his face!” _

“I wasn’t-”

“What do you  _ call it, _ then?” Tai tossed his hands up. “You  _ know _ how he feels about Roman. You crossed a line, buddy. I just… don’t understand  _ why. _ Did you really want a quickie that bad?”

Qrow opened his mouth to reply, and then snapped it shut again. With the benefit of sleep to aid hindsight, his actions suddenly had a very different color to them. He rested his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands with a sigh.

“Goddammit. I’m an asshole…”

“Yeah, well. Least you know. Not like this can’t be fixed.”

-/-

Mrs. Soleil dropped Penny off a little before lunchtime. She and James had plans to spend the day in Argus with Hazel and the kids, so all she did was change her clothes before they headed out. Once they were in the car, Penny said, “I thought Mr. Qrow was staying here last night. Did he go home?”

James’ heart stopped, albeit briefly, and he shook his head.

“We… got into a fight last night,” he admitted. “He slept at home.”

“Oh.” She was quiet for a moment, thoughtful; he felt bad for this, but he tried not to keep her in the dark about things, and this would definitely qualify as ‘things’.

“You are not going to break up, are you?”

“No... no, of course not.” He reached over to brush a hand reassuringly over her hair and gave her a weak smile. “We were just very upset, and needed to take some space to get our heads back in working order. That’s all. We’ll talk and work on things once we’ve calmed down.”

“You are certain?”

“Yes. Sometimes when you get angry at someone, the safest way to approach the situation is space first, talking after. Otherwise you get caught up too much to really focus on communication.”

“And you will be calmer later?”

“Yes. I’m already calmer now. We’ll probably talk tonight, or tomorrow.”

“Well. All right then.”

-/-

Mercury and Emerald dragged Penny off to the park as soon as she and James arrived, leaving James and Hazel to stare at their rapidly disappearing children with unconcern (Hazel, who it must be fair to say already knew their plans) and concern (James, who had to be reassured that the park was not that far away from their street and the kids weren’t going far).

Hazel ended up putting James to work in his garden, which needed weeding (supposedly it was the kids’ garden, but they were bad about forgetting about it), and the work proved to be good for him; it calmed his still-turmoiled thoughts enough that, without quite being prompted, he ended up telling Hazel the whole story, leaving out the details of the fight.

When he’d done, Hazel snorted. “Manipulated,” he said. “You weren’t manipulated.”

“It definitely feels like it from where I’m standing.”

“That’s because your head’s still not on straight.” 

He rocked back on his heels and stood, gesturing for James to follow him inside. Once their hands were washed and they both had glasses of water in front of them, he explained further. 

“You were playing a game where the clear goal was to get each other aroused for your evening together. He introduced an element that was meant to move those plans forward- to get you aroused enough to forgo waiting. But  _ you _ are the one who chose to act on that arousal. He sent an obvious signal asking you for something and you responded by giving him what he was asking for. That’s not manipulation, that’s non-verbal communication.”

“He didn’t have to include Torchwick in the equation.”

“Maybe, but you also chose to go for the quickie instead of just talking to him about how you felt. Still on you.”

James looked as if he meant to protest this, and then shook his head with a sigh and a small, self-deprecating laugh. “You’re right. I hate it, but you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right, I’m not part of the equation.”

-/-

It was late that night, when James was just settling into his (empty) bed for the night, that his phone buzzed. He answered it without checking.

“Qrow?”

On the other end, a forced laugh. “What, no sexy phone answering voice this time?”

James chuckled. “Guess I’m just not feeling very sexy right now.”

“No, I guess not.” 

There was a pause, a silence, and then, at once:

“Listen, James-”

“Qrow, I-”

They both broke off, and there was more of that nervous laughter. It was James who spoke.

“Qrow, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.”

“Yeah, well, I shouldn’t have involved Torchwick.” He laughed once more, a little nervously, and, “You wanna get coffee tomorrow? I think we should talk.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. I’d like that.”

“Heh. I’m gonna let you go now, you sound like you’re in bed-”

“How can you  _ possibly _ tell that?”

“-and I need some sleep too. We’ll talk tomorrow, in person. And Jimmy?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

James smiled, a weary, relieved smile. “Yeah. I know you do. Good night, Qrow.”

-/-

**Author's Note:**

> | | | Content warning explanations:
> 
> Dubious consent- Qrow dances sexily with Torchwick to provoke James into a quickie in the bathroom, and doesn't notice that he's genuinely upset by this.
> 
> Domestic violence- During the argument, James forgets himself and hits the desk with his cybernetic hand, putting a dent in it. | | |
> 
> So this was actually originally planned as the first arc for volume three, but when I added Clover to the plot I realized I _really_ wanted his introduction to be the first scene of the fic proper, and had to rearrange my entire timeline to suit this. This actually worked better, because this could only happen in the summer and I didn't want to start volume three DURING the summer. It also works for you guys, because you get the whole thing at once instead of having this happen along side my other plots across several chapters.


End file.
